Hide? No, Seek

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God.
—Genesis 3:8

Man was created by a God of love for relationship and fellowship with God Himself. Man walked with God, talked with God, and lived in the glory of God. But Adam then disobeyed God’s command, violated His Word, and sinned. When the sin occurred, God did not hide from man, leave man, or separate Himself from man, but man hid himself from God. Fear became man’s master, and guilt and condemnation ruled his thought life; Adam had disrupted the very reason for his existence: intimate fellowship with God. So God sent Jesus to the cross; He became sin, became the curse, to restore man’s fellowship to God (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13). He made man righteous and holy, with a God-nature in the new birth, so fellowship could be restored by His blood (Ephesians 4:24; 1 John 1:7). Even though this work is finished and Jesus will never suffer and die again, many Christians are still hiding from God, not enjoy- ing His presence, because of an evil conscience. An evil conscience is a mindset that is focused on your daily performance rather than Jesus’s performance on the cross. It focuses on sin rather than right- eousness and will produce fear, guilt, and condemnation rather than peace with God. Let the Blood “purge your conscience from dead works” so you can serve and have fellowship with God (Hebrews 9:14). Put your faith in Christ’s blood, not in your performance.

Pastor Tom Kehres

Empowered

But ye shall receive power,
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me. —Acts 1:8

What a privilege to be endued with power! What kind of life would we have without the supernatural power to live above the curse and our circumstances? You no longer have to bow to sickness, lack, worry, and fear—you have been endued with power. Why continue to live an ordinary life? Why live like you are power-less and help-less? No, I say! You have been empowered to be a witness for God, to be a proof-provider that Jesus is alive! Supernatural signs and wonders await you if you will only put your trust in the promise of the Holy Ghost, who has come upon you and abides within you. Don’t think of yourself as ordinary any longer. Stop seeing yourself with only natural ability and start to meditate on the power that has been infused into your life. Tarry no longer—go with the power and ability of God at work in and through your life!

Pastor Tom Kehres

His Power

And, behold, I [Jesus] send the promise of my Father upon you . . . be endued with power from on high.
—Luke 24:49

God desires for you to be endued with power. This is not natural power or brain power, but God-power. You have been endued, infused, and clothed with the ability of God to do the works of God. You have become an extension of Jesus’s life in the earth. How limit- less is the power of God in your life, and how important it is to be aware of it and put it into action! You may see yourself as unqualified and unable, but look at the ability you have been given, and not your own ability. You have been endued with the power of God—and all things are possible with God!

Pastor Tom Kehres

The Holy Spirit, In and Upon You

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me . . . —Luke 4:18

The Father gave mankind a promise. He promised the day would come when the anointing would be made available to man, and this anointing would break yokes and destroy burdens. This promise could only be fulfilled after Jesus suffered, died, and rose, so that the new birth and new creation could accommodate it. Not only would the Christ come to live in man, but the Spirit would be sent upon man. The Spirit was not sent alongside man to work for him and apart from him, but upon him to work and co-labor with him. God arrives on the scene—in Him, you arrive on the scene. You are the vehicle of God. He lays hands when you lay hands; He speaks His Word of power when you speak His Word of power. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you!

Pastor Tom Kehres